Op-Ed on “The Presidential Primaries and Caucuses Are Upon Us”

Washington, DC—The following Op-Ed appeared in the National Herald, 11-24-07 page 11 and the Greek News, 11-19-07 page 44.

The Presidential Primaries and Caucuses Are Upon Us

By Gene Rossides

November 13, 2007

In less than two months the race for the White House will begin in double-time. The first caucus, the Iowa caucus will be held on January 3, 2008.

The New Hampshire primary date has not been set. In 2004 it was on January 27, 2004. It is an important primary. Historically it has been a key one. The Michigan primary is listed for January 15, 2008. The next important one is South Carolina. On January 19, 2008 the South Carolina Republican primary will be held. The Democrats will hold their primary in South Carolina on January 29, 2008.

Florida has set January 29, 2008 for its primary but there is a question with the National Committees of the parties recognizing it.

On February 5, 2008 there are over 20 primaries and caucuses including the states of California and New York.

The front runners in the Democratic Party remain Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina. These are followed by Senator Joe Biden Jr. of Delaware, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and Mike Gravel of Alaska.

The front runners in the Republican Party are former Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York, former Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, Senator John McCain of Arizona, and Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. These are followed by Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, Representative Ron Paul of Texas, Representative Duncan Hunter of California and Representative Tom Tancredo of Colorado.

The Iowa caucus is the first presidential nomination contest. It is not like a primary where a voter fills out his ballot and leaves. It is an arcane procedure. An Iowa Democratic Party official spent 90 minutes walking reporters through the process.

The good feature of the Iowa caucus process is that it is open and personal. Candidates talk directly to the voters as they criss-cross the state. Voters are reached by campaign workers with phone calls, e-mails, direct mail and visits by the candidates field staff.

A distinguishing feature is that when Iowa voters gather in schools and church basements, everything is open for all to observe. Iowans vote in the presence of friends, neighbors, strangers “with their feet, by raising their hands and moving to different parts of the room to indicate their support for one candidate or another.”

The number of voters is small. There were only about 125,000 persons who participated in the Democratic caucus of 2004. For Democrats it is not a one-person, one-vote process. The Republicans report basically a straw poll of those in attendance on caucus night.

Another difference from a primary is that it is important to have support in all 99 countries and 1784 precincts because of the rules used to apportion delegates. A candidate does not benefit from a huge support in a particular precinct.

The key issues include the domestic ones of taxes, immigration, jobs and the economy, health care, children’s education, pro-life v. abortion and gay marriages v. gay unions. In foreign affairs, Iraq dominates. Nevertheless the Greek American community must raise its voice, individually and by organization and press all candidates for policy statements on our issues.

Some candidates have made sound statements on Cyprus, the Aegean and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, but much more is needed on those and on other ones, FYROM and Albania. I will devote a future article to specifics.

Also it is important to ask the candidates: Will they pledge to use adequate political, diplomatic and economic pressure on Turkey to achieve our objectives in the interests of the U.S. on the Cyprus, Aegean and religious freedom issues?

The several polls, Gallop, ABC News/Washington Post, CNN/Opinion Research Corporation and USA Today are quite close to each other. For Democrats they list as follows:

For additional information, please contact Georgia Economou at (202) 785-8430 or [email protected]. For general information regarding the activities of AHI, please view our Web site at http://www.ahiworld.org.